Committee for Adelaide is proud to announce our new partnership with Carbon Neutral Adelaide. As a founding partner, we have been recognised for our commitment and contribution to reducing emissions, helping to make the City of Adelaide the world’s first carbon neutral city. The Carbon Neutral Adelaide Partner Program celebrates and empowers business and community organisations to rapidly reduce carbon emissions, provide leadership and encourage others to take action. As the world’s first carbon neutral city, the City of Adelaide will be a showcase for…

IS Adelaide slowly shaking off its big country town mentality and starting to believe that, as a mid-sized global city, we have enormous potential in the new economy? Visiting Thinker in Residence Allyson Hewitt, a social entrepreneur expert from Toronto, is starting to think so. She says she has noticed a change in Adelaide since her first visit earlier this year; a sense of optimism that wasn’t apparent when she first met with business and community groups. While there has been no major shift in…

Three new people have joined our Board, ensuring gender balance and the diversity needed to achieve real changes for Adelaide. New Chair James Blackburn has welcomed the new Board members and paid tribute to retiring member David Paterson, founder of Social Capital and Industry Professor of the University of South Australia. New member Stephenie de Nichilo is the Head of Safety and Security of Santos. Santos is a founding member of the Committee and as one of the few major companies headquartered in our city,…

James Blackburn, a partner with PwC in Adelaide and former Melburnian, has been elected the New Chair of the Committee for Adelaide. Taking over the reins from inaugural and outgoing Chair Colin Goodall, who has held the position since the Committee’s inception four years ago, James said he was excited about the city’s future and the Committee for Adelaide’s role in shaping it. “As a family, we have a better quality of life than we ever had in Melbourne and from a business perspective, I…

It’s a place where we can be bold; where we can create a launch pad for leading innovators like Toronto’s MARS in Canada, build a contemporary art gallery that rivals Bilbao’s Guggenheim in Spain and create new economic opportunities. What global cities would give to have a clean slate like ours; one at the end of an attractive cultural boulevard surrounded by world-class attractions, universities and parks. With these riches on our doorstep and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform our city centre, what is…

Mention population growth to most federal politicians and they think of millions of extra people pouring into overcrowded cities where infrastructure is failing. Many don’t realise that places outside the eastern states face different issues. That states like South Australia need more people, not fewer, to fuel economic growth. And it’s that lack of understanding that can lead to laws and regulations that work for some parts of the country, but not others. That’s why we have a ludicrous situation in South Australia where some…

The Committee for Adelaide has welcomed a number of initiatives in the State Budget designed to attract, grow and retain businesses but says the focus also needs to be on growing South Australia’s population to drive the economy. “Payroll tax cuts, the Future Jobs Fund and extra funding for the Investment Attraction agency are all designed to turn our high unemployment rate around and we welcome this,” Committee for Adelaide Chief Executive Officer Jodie van Deventer says. “The $120m being made to businesses to drive…

What works for the eastern states doesn’t always work for South Australia and that appears to be the case with the Federal Government’s decision to make it harder for skilled migrants to come to Australia. While Sydney and Melbourne are bursting at the seams causing major infrastructure headaches, South Australia’s population has gone backwards in some regional areas and is growing at a glacial pace elsewhere. We need more people, not fewer, so anything which makes it harder for businesses to attract the people they…

The Committee for Adelaide has pledged to work with the Weatherill Government in its delivery on a new State Energy Plan to identify private partners for various projects, investigate alternate funding models and explore ways to create new industries that can be exported globally. “Ideally the electricity system needs to be urgently overhauled at a national level but in the absence of this, we broadly welcome the State Government’s measures to help ensure a more reliable supply of electricity,” Committee for Adelaide Chief Executive Officer…

The Committee for Adelaide is supporting the State Government’s call to put the national electricity framework on the agenda at the next COAG meeting. “At our recent meetings in Canberra with the Prime Minister and other leading politicians, we stressed that the national electricity market was not working and that a bipartisan, nation-wide approach was needed,” Committee for Adelaide Chief Executive Officer Jodie van Deventer said. “Our businesses and community groups need certainty and reliable and affordable energy. We support an emissions intensity scheme and…

While it’s clear this week’s State-wide blackout was due to infrastructure damage caused by a massive storm, the damage to our brand as an investment destination is enormous. Interstate headlines ranged from SA entering the dark ages to being a state in the dark. At a time when Adelaide city centre is undergoing exciting changes with major investments along our Riverbank ranging from the Festival Plaza redevelopment to the expansion at the Adelaide Convention Centre, one dark afternoon is unravelling a myriad of activities carefully…

The Committee for Adelaide is thrilled to announce Jodie van Deventer as its first full-time Chief Executive. Committee for Adelaide Chair Colin Goodall said Ms van Deventer was successful from a field of 128 applicants and will start her role in mid September. “We optimistically went to the market in an attempt to find an extraordinary individual to shape Adelaide’s future and we could not be happier with our choice,” Mr Goodall said. “Jodie has essentially had four successful careers - in the media, industry…

The Committee for Adelaide welcomes a number of initiatives outlined in the State Budget, delivered today by the Treasurer the Hon Tom Koutsantonis, that will assist SA to become a high-tech advanced manufacturing hub of the future. We welcome the Government’s focus on encouraging new industries and new businesses – both home grown and from abroad – to establish themselves in South Australia. This includes funding to directly support innovation, to fund fast internet to SA’s innovation hubs and to provide seed funding and venture…

27 June, 2016 The Committee for Adelaide welcomes the State Government’s announcement today that it will roll out an internet network offering some Adelaide businesses connections up to 100 times faster than the national average. Committee for Adelaide General Manager Matt Clemow said, “for a city like Adelaide – dealing with economic transition - this is a smart investment in critical infrastructure to improve the competitiveness of the city.” “Those SA businesses that are able to connect to this network will become more competitive nationally…